A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'
William F. Buckley, Jr.Read
I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence.
Interpretation
This quote humorously suggests that to take someone seriously would be an insult to their intelligence.
William F. Buckley, Jr.'s quote plays on the idea that sometimes people are not deserving of serious consideration due to their actions or statements. It carries a satirical tone, implying that someone may say or do things so foolishly that acknowledging them with seriousness would undermine one's own intelligence.
In practice
In a debate about political correctness, one might use this quote to illustrate the absurdity of some arguments.
A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'
Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.
I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.
You cannot paint the Mona Lisa by assigning one dab each to a thousand painters.
Government can't do anything for you except in proportion as it can do something to you.
I imagine hell like this: Italian punctuality, German humour and English wine.
NECTAR, n. A drink served at banquets of the Olympian deities. The secret of its preparation is lost, but the modern Kentuckians believe that they come pretty near to a knowledge of its chief ingredient.
There are two impossibilities in life: "just one drink" and "an honest politician."
Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... 'How to Build a Boat.'
Things I wonder about the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals: When they catch a guy and he comes off the list, does number eleven automatically move up? And does he see it as a promotion? Does he call his criminal friends and say, "I made it, Bruno. I'm finally on the list"?
Iβd rather have the thieves than the neighbors - the thieves don't impose. Thieves just want your things, neighbors want your time.
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